The Silent Clowns Film Series: NY

The Silent Clowns Film Series is New York's longest-running regularly-scheduled showcase for classic silent film comedy. Every show features live musical accompaniment by Ben Model and introduction and Q&A with film historian Bruce Lawton. Featured are the movies and shorts of Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, Lloyd and more.


Programs are presented on alternating Sunday afternoons from October through April every year, and are geared to the classic film fan as well as to families. The Silent Clowns Film Series is dedicated to the memory of Walter Kerr, whose landmark book, "The Silent Clowns," was the inspiration for the series. See The Book on Amazon


The next films to be presented are on Sunday, November 18 at 2 pm, when they will produce their annual tribute to neglected comics.


On the bill:

The Would-Be Shriner ('12) (Mack Sennett)
She Landed A Big One ('14) (Mack Sennett, with Wallace Beery as "Sweedie," )
All Tied Up ('25),(the Three Fatties)
Anything Once ('27) (the Three Fatties, with Mabel Normand)
Pep Up ('29)( Cliff Bowes)
Blazing Away ('28) Lloyd Hamilton
[note: as these titles are very rare and hard to access on film, this program will utilize video projection]

Also, just added to the program is a 6-minute fragment of the lost 1915 Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle comedy short Fatty and the Broadway Stars. This tinted nitrate footage turned up in the collection of the National Library of Norway in 2006 and has been preserved. The footage is from reel 2 of the film and was out of order; the National Library provided a video to Ben Model and Steve Massa who then unscrambled the shots for them. This is the first public screening of this rare footage. [It will be shown at Slapsticon next summer, and
will be available for viewing on the Nationalbiblioteket's website later in 2008]

All shows are held at
The New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West (betw W 76 & W 77 St)
Tickets: $8 all adults, $5 for kids, seniors and members
(gallery admission to the N-YHS is a separate fee)

For more information about the film series, visit their website listed below:
http://www.silentclowns.com

For more information about Ben Model, live accompanist and producer of the series, visit his website listed below:

http://www.silentfilmmusic.com